Two recently published studies have shown that the new conventional anti-cancer therapies developed in the last 15 years have led to a disappointing overall survival improvement of only 2.4 months to 3.4 months. With these dismal results, cancer patients should vet their oncologist’s recommendation to determine the cost (not only financial but associated adverse side effects) vs. benefit of chemotherapy.
As with conventional cancer research, alternative/complimentary research is continuing to evolve. High dose intravenous vitamin C, vitamin D, mistletoe and low dose naltrexone have been the cornerstone treatment for most cancers. However, more recently two repurposed medications (off-label use) have shown to be beneficial in targeting the underlying cause of cancer. These medications are Ivermectin and Membendazole/Fenbendazole.
Important Terms to Know
Before discussing these two repurposed medications it is important to understand several medical terms often used in describing cancer.
Autophagy: also known as “self-eating” is a survival mechanism that breaks down damaged cellular organelles and proteins, thus providing building blocks that are recycled into forming new organelles and proteins. It also limits cell growth and compensates for genomic instability which contributes to cancer formation. When this process becomes dysregulated it can contribute to the formation of cancerous cells.
Apoptosis: A type of cell death in which a series of molecular steps leads to destruction of the cell. This is one method the body uses to get rid of unneeded or abnormal cells. This process is often blocked in cancer cells causing them to become ‘immortal’.
Circulating cancer stem cells (cCSCs): are a rare subset of cancer cells that are released from tumors into the bloodstream, where they then spread to other parts of the body and potentially cause distant metastases. Unfortunately, chemotherapeutic agents have been shown to be unsuccessful in treating these cancer cells.
Alternative vs. Complimentary therapy
- Alternative therapy is as the name implies used as an alternative to standard or care (SOC)
- Complimentary therapy is where alternative therapy is combined with standard SOC therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation.
What is Ivermectin?
Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic medication that recently has been shown to have anti-cancer effects. Its anti-cancer properties are attributed to its ability to induce autophagy and apoptosis of cancer cells. In causing apoptosis in cancer, it has been shown to significantly reduce tumor volume. In addition, one study showed Ivermectin alone to be more effective than standard chemotherapy (gemcitabine) at reducing tumor weight and volume in pancreatic cancer.
Repeated studies have shown Ivermectin in high doses to be very safe.
What are Mebendazole and Fenbendazole?
Both Mebendazole and Fenbendazole are a class of medications known as Benzimidazoles that are normally used to treat parasitic worms. Both medications have very similar mechanism of action in killing cancer. Yet their anti-cancer effects differ in several ways from Ivermectin.
How do Mebendazole and Fenbendazole target cancer?
In addition to triggering apoptosis like Ivermectin, Mebendazole and Fenbendazole have been shown to have the following anti-cancer effects.
- They arrest cell division and eventually causing death.
- They block new blood vessels growth (angiogenesis) that tumors will generate to provide them the nutrients to grow, while at the same time facilitating the spread of tumor cells to other areas of the body (metastases).
- Benzimidazoles also target sCSCs and metastatic tumors.
- Fenbendazole turns on the P53 gene which is found in all cells. This gene is used to prevent cells from turning cancerous. When a cell mutates to the point of cancer, the P53 gene is turned off. Fenbendazole turns this gene back on, basically killing the cancer cell from the inside out
Ivermectin and Mebendazole/Fenbendazole Effectiveness for Cancer
Below are just a few of the many studies showing the effectiveness of these repurposed medications:
- Gastric cancer: Mebendazole was more potent against gastric cancer cell lines than other well-known chemotherapeutic drugs such as 5-fluorouracil, oxalipatin, gemcitabine, irinotecan, paclitaxel plus other commonly used chemo therapies.
- Brain cancer: In the treatment of the brain cancer glioblastoma standard of care (SOC), which consists of radiation and chemotherapy, yields a 2-year survival rate of 26.5%. In other words, at the end of 2 years 26.5% of these patients are alive. When Membendazole was added to SOC, the survival rate jumped to 41.7%.
When these two repurposed medications are combined with other proven alternative/complimentary therapies, the outcome of patient survival can be significantly changed while at the same time leading to improved quality of life.
Terry Pfau DO, HMD